sidebar

noun

side·​bar ˈsīd-ˌbär 

1

a

: a short news story or graphic accompanying and presenting sidelights of a major story

b

: something incidental : sidelight

a sidebar to the essay's central theme

2

: a conference between the judge, the lawyers, and sometimes the parties to a case that the jury does not hear

Examples of sidebar in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the money Hundreds of thousands of people piled into the stream on Friday, with the sidebar chat flying with new comments. —Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 7 June 2024

His 2008 film Whatever Lola Wants followed a postal worker in New York who aspired to be an Egyptian belly dancer; his controversial drama Much Loved (which premiered in Cannes’ Directors Fortnight sidebar in 2015) explored prostitution in Morocco through the lives of four women. —Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 May 2024

Every year, there are at least a couple of films from the festival sidebars that wind up breaking through. —Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 14 May 2024

Although the Acid sidebar is new to Said, this isn’t his first time at Cannes. —Jamie Lang, Variety, 17 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1928, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Legal Definition

sidebar

noun

side·​bar ˈsīd-ˌbär 

: sidebar conference

had failed to request a sidebar before injecting the collateral offense into the trial

—Dockery v. State, 659 So. 2d 219 (1994)

also : the place near or before the bench where a sidebar conference takes place

the judge informed both attorneys…that they…could stand at sidebar while questions were posed

—Commonwealth v. Urena, 632 N.E.2d 1200 (1994)

compare bench, stand

sidebar adjective